CMLL Lucha Azteca: 2015-07-18

The Ingobernables are carrying the show! Sure hope they’re around forever.

Recapped: 07/24/2015

Match 1: Gran Guerrero vs Rey Escorpión
Arena México, 07/03/2015
Video:  thecubsfan

1. Rey Escorpión superplex (2:31)
2. Rey Escorpión foul kick (4:13)

Winner: Rey Escorpion
Match Time: 6:44
Notes: Rey Escorpión attacks Gran Guerrero on the way to the ring, and wins the second fall via unseen foul.

Review: [ok] better than the Puebla Gran Guerrero match, because Rey Escorpión employed his usual strategy of working with Guerreros (beat them up heavily) and that made enough of this week. Gran Guerrero shouldn’t have even gotten a visual pinfall in a perfect world, but at least he didn’t actually win a fall. Guerrero is limited as a tecnico and the crowd didn’t really around him as much as you’d think given the focus on this feud, but Escorpión carried him thru it fine. Escorpión even made the first finish work when it seemed like Gran Guerrero didn’t know how to take a superplex.

Match 2: Dragon Lee, Mistico, Valiente vs Ephesto, Kamaitachi, Mephisto
Arena México, 07/03/2015
Video: thecubsfan

1. tecnicos
   • La Mistica on Mephisto (2:21)
2. rudos
   • triple powerbomb on Mistico (1:45)
3. tecnicos
   • Valiente Buster on Mephisto (2:37)

Winner: tecnicos
Match Time: 6:43

Review: [ok] Probably good or better had I seen the Terra version; this was clearly edited in about half. They were going along at a good pace at what we did see, it’s easy to figure it would’ve kept up in a longer version. As it was, it was still nice to get a lot of the guys on Azteca for the first time in a while; some of them haven’t been on this show since Leyenda de Plata cibernetico. Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi got in some of their craziness but also meshed well, and the surprise timing off the finishes stood out.

Match 3: Diamante Azul, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr. vs La Sombra, Rush, Thunder in a relevos increíbles match
Arena México, 07/03/2015
Video: thecubsfan

1. Team Sombra
   • Sombra double knee smash Ultimo Guerrero (2:57)
   • Ultimo Guerrero corner dropkick Diamante Azul (3:32)
2. Team Volador Jr.
   • Diamante Azul german suplex Rush (3:33)
   • Ultimo Guerrero front superplex Thunder (3:42)
3. Team Sombra
   • DQ Volador Jr. [Sombra mask toss] (7:25)

Winner: Team Sombra
Match Time: 14:39
Notes: Azul & Volador charge Sombra & Rush, but end up taking up the worst of it. Rush & Sombra have very minor issues with Thunder, but mostly just to try to not work with him. Their side worked as the rudos for the match. Tirantes was wiped out at the end of the third fall with Volador & Sombra in. Rush ran in, took his partner’s mask, and tossed it to Volador to draw the DQ. Rush, Sombra, Volador and Azul brawled more after the match.

Review: [good] Mixed match. Diamante Azul, Rush, Volador and Sombra were having a crazy brawl, and they’d instead show Thunder & Ultimo Guerrero having a rehearsed and not all together good fight. And then they’d show Rush and Azul laying in a hold while other people were doing stuff. The Thunder/UG issue isn’t nearly as over as it should be for all the time they’ve spent on it the last three months. Those two begged for a reaction in the third fall and Sombra & Volador were more over just doing a face off. It made the bit of Ultimo Guerrero running thru Sombra & Rush a bit infuriating. This came off as the tecnicos versus Ingobernables match with a lot less partners (and some nonsense in that, since Thunder’s whole reason for turning was wanting to fight Rush and that was forgotten here.) They did end with the young guys all brawling and it’s clear that was the intended bigger program going forward. This was still an odd fit; the Escorpión/Gran Guerrero did a much better job of building up the hair match than the Ultimo Guerrero appearance.